Sukhoi Civil Aircraft signed an agreement with Malev Hungarian Airlines to build a Superjet 100 service and repair center in Hungary. No further details were provided. Last week, Malev indicated it would consider ordering up to 15 of the new Russian-built 95-seaters ( ATWOnline, Dec.10). Thus far, Sukhoi has 70 firm orders for the Superjet, with first delivery scheduled for early 2008.
Air France KLM flew 16.09 billion RPKs in November, up 3.5% on the year-ago month, against a 3.7% climb in capacity to 20.53 billion ASKs. Load factor fell 0.1 point to 78.4%. TAM flew 1.9 billion domestic RPKs in November, up 15.5% on the year-ago month, against a 9% rise in capacity to 2.63 billion ASKs that lifted load factor 4.1 points to 72.1%. International RPKs climbed 58.4% to 960 million while capacity grew 65% to 1.41 billion ASKs. Load factor fell 2.9 points to 68%.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. approved a special distribution of $2.15 per share to holders of its common stock, or approximately $250 million, scheduled for Jan. 23. It also said it has paid down $500 million of the term loan under its existing credit agreement ( ATWOnline, Nov. 28).
Sinotrans Air Transportation Development Co. and Korean Air will expand on their cargo agreement with construction of a new freight station in Tianjin. The joint venture will launch with $14.9 million in capital, of which Sinotrans Air contributed $3 million for a 20% stake while Korean invested $7 million for a controlling 47% stake. Other investors are Air Korea, Hanjin Group and Dongliqu Economic Investment Co. The station will be developed in two phases.
Cypress Airways' ground staff plans to strike Dec. 12 and Dec. 17-18 to protest the carrier's plan to outsource ground handling at Larnaca and Paphos to the Swissport & GAP Vassilopoulos joint venture. The strike potentially will affect 107 flights, the airline and two of its unions said Friday. "If need be, our aircraft will fly empty to specific destinations to ferry inbound passengers," CY said in a statement, insisting it will continue operating through the job action.
EasyJet announced six new routes: From Bristol to Biarritz (four-times-weekly from April 23), Olbia (thrice-weekly from April 26) and Split (twice-weekly from April 26); daily London Luton-Pisa from March 30; thrice-weekly Edinburgh-Nice from April 24, and thrice-weekly Glasgow International-Faro from April 22. The LCC transported 2.9 million passengers last month, up 13.2% from the year-ago month. Load factor rose 0.3 point to 80.8%.
Green Skies Inc., a consulting firm specializing in aviation-related environmental initiatives, was launched Friday in Washington. "North America is behind and the industry can seize the moment and take a unified approach, or wait for others to enact rules that penalize or enact new tax burdens on our business," CEO Michael Miller said.
Austrian Airlines Group will announce today that former Lufthansa Marketing Director Andreas Bierwirth will become CCO and AAG General Secretary Peter Malanik will be promoted to COO. Jeffrey Shane confirmed last week that he will resign as US Dept. of Transportation undersecretary for policy effective Jan. 31. He did not announce his future plans.
Midwest Air Group said it has complied with requests for additional information from the US Dept. of Justice pertaining to its acquisition by TPG Capital and Northwest Airlines ( ATWOnline, Oct. 31). It added that the parties have agreed not to complete the sale before Jan. 31 without DOJ approval. It said closing will "occur as soon as practicable."
Ryanair called on the European Commission to block Air France KLM from buying Alitalia "until both airlines have paid back a combined €2.7 billion ($3.9 billion) in illegal state aid received from the French and Italian governments" ( ATWOnline, Dec. 7).
American Eagle pilots said AMR Corp.'s decision to sell off the regional subsidiary ( ATWOnline, Nov. 29) would lower their wages and bring inexperienced pilots into their ranks. In a statement released last week, Eagle pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn.
SAS Group airlines flew 3.16 billion RPKs in November, up 3.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 4.5% to 4.83 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 0.9 point to 65.4%. SAS Scandinavian Airlines flew 2.17 billion RPKs, up 0.4%, against a 2.8% increase in ASKs to 3.15 billion that lowered load factor 1.7 points to 68.8%. Aer Lingus flew 1.21 billion RPKs in November, up 17.4% over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 23.3% to 1.65 billion ASKs and load factor fell 3.7 points to 73.4%.
Nationwide Airlines, grounded by the South African Civil Aviation Authority ( ATWOnline, Dec. 4) at the end of November, resumed its Johannesburg-London Gatwick service Friday and planned to restart Johannesburg-Cape Town flights yesterday, both aboard its 767 aircraft that it said received "a clean bill of health" from CAA. Its 737-200s, 737-500s and 727s will be released into service "in accordance with SACAA approval" and flights "will gradually return to normal," Nationwide said on its website.
Lufthansa will end its cooperation with NetJets in February and purchase its own aircraft to expand its Lufthansa Private Jet service, which it said then will be better equipped to handle "strong" demand. "Based on the excellent market response, Lufthansa anticipates steady growth in this segment," it said. It did not say what type of aircraft it will buy or how many, but it expects the jets to start entering service next spring.
The US Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee approved a comprehensive bill that would establish a carbon emissions cap-and-trade program from 2012 governing a wide range of industries, including airlines, sending the proposed legislation to the Senate floor for a vote by the full chamber.
EU and Ukraine last week officially opened negotiations on a Common Aviation Area agreement. If successful, Ukraine will harmonize its legislation with European standards and implement a large part of the European aviation acquis communautaire. The EU has signed similar agreements with western Balkan countries and Morocco. According to EC data, some 2.1 million passengers traveled between the EU and Ukraine by air in 2006, an increase of 21% over 2005.
British Airways flew 8.84 billion RPKs in November, up 2.4% from the year-ago month, against a 1.6% rise in ASKs to 12.09 billion. Load factor rose 0.6 point to 73.1%. US Airways Group flew 4.75 billion RPMs in November, a 4.6% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity fell at the same rate to 6.1 billion ASMs and load factor slipped 0.1 point to 77.8%. US said consolidated passenger RASM increased 2%-4% year-over-year.
Frontier Airlines is cutting its workforce by 10%, or an estimated 100 positions, and will determine if its fleet needs to be "right-sized" in light of escalating operating costs and fuel prices. In addition, the company today was set to begin operating its new regional subsidiary Lynx after receiving final approval from the US Dept. of Transportation yesterday. "They can start flying anytime," a DOT spokesperson told ATWOnline.
Lufthansa Systems and Frontier Airlines signed an eight-year contract under which Frontier will implement LHS's Lido Operations Center flight planning optimization program.
US aerospace industry civil aircraft sales jumped 16% this year to $53 billion, nearly matching the value of military aircraft sales, Aerospace Industries Assn. President and CEO Marion Blakey said yesterday in Washington. US aerospace industry sales will total $198.8 billion in 2007, up 8.5% over 2006. Addressing the AIA Year End Review and Forecast Luncheon for the first time since stepping down as FAA Administrator this fall, Blakey said revenues from civil aircraft sales should climb 13% to $60.4 billion in 2008, exceeding military aircraft sales for the first time since 2002.
Egyptian government reportedly has cancelled a plan to sell a 20% stake in EgyptAir. The daily Al-Ahram, citing Civil Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafiq, said the government changed course after the airline confirmed a profit of $91.3 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2006, a 17% improvement over the prior year.
